I’ve always said I’d rather be an ex-con than an ex-pro. But I say a lot of things, and unlike the Mad Hatter, most of them I probably don’t even really mean. But here I am three sentences into this week’s Zaturdays and I’m already way off topic. The real focus here is supposed to be a compare-and-contrast type of thing between Tampa Am and Tampa Pro. As two illustrious, hugely impactful, history-making get togethers that both take place on an annual basis inside the same building and attract skateboarders from all over the world, they’re very similar. But the differences are more interesting to talk about, and here are 10 major ones.

We try to keep registration at Tampa Am “tight,” cutting it off around 250 kids. There are so many kids skating it in fact that we break up Qualifying into a two day grind fest with roughly 125 kids skating per day. We have to run them in jams of 3 at a time just to survive the sheer monotony of it. Tampa Pro on the other hand generally brings in around 60 or 70 skaters, so we can run them nice and leisurely, one at a time in mellow heats of 15 or so.

I haven’t actually run the numbers here, because where would those numbers even be (?), but the ratio of spectators to skaters at Tampa Pro is pretty much the inverse of the ratio from the Am. Way more people want to come see Wes and Busenitz and Nyjah and Luan and P-rod and Chris Cole and [insert the name of your favorite pro here] than they want to see a bunch of random kids from places like American Fork and Baton Rouge and Billings, not that there’s anything wrong with those places, it’s just, well, people like their celebrities to live in Hollywood. Obviously getting practice in with 60 other people is going to be mellower than it is with 250, but beyond the sheer numbers, the intensity of the practicing is the biggest difference between the two contests. The Ams are hungry, if not STARVING TO DEATH by the looks of it, and they are going for the gold from the moment they show up. After all, getting a run locked in and tricks dialed could be the difference between making the cut, getting sponsored and maybe even winning, and potentially changing one’s life for all eternity, or not. At the Pro, not to be redundant, but they’re already pro, they did all that, now they just have to be there doing there thing. I like to point to BA as an example of a Pro who comes to Tampa, does his frontside boneless lipslides, locks into some buttery frontside smith grinds, and brings the crowd to their feet without fail. He doesn’t need to ollie off the second story balcony to get our attention, and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s funny, on the Thursday and Friday before Tampa Pro there have been times where there are like 3 dudes just sort of cruising around on the course and each time I think, “I hope that some more of them show up.” They always do. It’s easier to make it out of Qualifying at Tampa Pro. Sure on average the pros are better than the ams, but if 30 advance out of 60 it’s just a matter of playing the odds. At the Am you still have roughly the same amount moving through to the Semis, but out of 250 skaters? Good luck.

Someone pointed out this past Tampa Am how there were hardly any little kids in the contest. I hadn’t realized it but yeah, most of the skaters were probably between 17 and 20 years old. That’s not that young, but there are even fewer old dudes skating. 25 is man am territory and we don’t get too many above that. The Pro on the other hand? We get Ron Allen skating. He’s 50 something. We had Mike V last year, he’s in his mid 40s. We get Koston, BA, Mike Peterson and Danny Fuenzalida, all in their late 30s or early 40s. That said, the dudes that usually end up doing really really well, like Luan, Nyjah, Louie Lopez, etc., tend to be in their early 20s. Nobody is more stoked than the dudes who are in Tampa for their first time. I hear it all the time. And since every Pro in the world has been to Tampa before, probably multiple times, they’re understandably a little less hyped than the starry eyed ams. I think Schaefer is the only person who NEVER gets over being stoked on Tampa.

Tampa Am Best Trick can only mean one thing: carnage, chaos, and collisions and the occasional concussion. Maybe that’s four things. I suppose it also means some landed tricks. Best Trick at Tampa Pro on the other hand is calculated, controlled, and congenial. “You can go ahead and try your trick kind sir, I just had my turn.” In the end the level of trick difficulty isn’t that far off between the two though. Compared to the pros, the ams party like a bunch of amateurs. The majority of ams can’t step to the level of shredding that consistently goes down by guys like Evan Smith, Shane O’Neill, Grant Taylor, Trevor Colden, etc. That said, all of those guys skated Tampa Am at one point or another, just not all at the same time.

Like I said above, if you win Tampa Am it can change your life. Winning Tampa Pro is a bit different, it gets you $20,000, guarantees you a spot into SLS (If you’re not already in SLS), and gives you a pass straight to the Super Crown Championship where you’ll have another chance to win $200,000 and a $30,000 watch. I suppose that could change your life too, for example you’d never have an excuse for being late for anything after that, or for not picking up the tab at dinner every time. Oh, and there aren’t really any losers in skateboarding, whether you’re am or pro, first place or last, we all win. So congratulations! See you at the contest. - Paul Zitzer